Opening Up
by The Crystal Catalyst
Summary: The ups and downs of Smasher life through the eyes of Pokemon Trainer Red, who really needs to open up to others. Rated for minor cursing and mild violence. And Red becoming all knowledgeable and battling his depressed self. Thank You and please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**I was inspired by all the SSBB fanfics that I had read even before I came into . I know I still have like two stories to update and keep one on hiatus and I'll get to them, don't worry people.**

**You will have no idea where some of the plotlines of some of the chapters comes from. If you can figure it out let me know and if you're right, I'll give you a cookie! I'll tell you which chapters have inspiration from other SSBB fanfics anyway.**

**And yes, the fanfic's main character is Red, the Pokemon Trainer. RED ROCKS! But everyone gets cameos which is why I do not have a specific main character. But that might change…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Super Smash Brothers Brawl or Melee, Nintendo does… Right? Yes, I put some of the Melee characters in too.**

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Chapter 1: The Beginning

It had been a few months since Subspace Emmisary. Now Red was standing with Lucas leaning against one of the Smash Mansion Walls at the outside backyard. He and Lucas had been watching the other kid Smashers playing baseball for the past hour.

_'How did I get here again? Ah yes…'_ Red thought.

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Flashback

_Red had just returned to Kanto after the defeating Tabuu and saying farewell to Lucas who returned to the islands he was residing in. During Subspace Emissary the two had been teammates and now very close friends. Both had taught each other important lessons._

_Red taught Lucas that it was okay to be afraid, but even if you are afraid, always protect those who are dear to you and stand up for what's right. He also taught him that he was not alone in life as before the final battle Lucas had admitted to him that he had lost his mother and brother. He also told him that he was afraid of the final battle. Red simply patted him on the back in a comforting gesture and said._

_"I can't empathise with you but I can tell you this. Even though you have gone through a rough life, you are not alone. Look at all the other smash brothers along with us. Some of them may even have gone through rougher lives than you. But one thing's for sure: We can overcome this together as one team. You don't have to keep your feelings bottled up inside. You have us and we have you to help one another."_

_As for being afraid of the final battle…_

_"I'm scared too. Heck, if we make even one wrong move, it's over. I reckon even Mario and Link are scared. Lucario can be scared as well; even Meta Knight might be. Every one of us is scared for the future and the world. They just hide it better than we do because they want to tell us to be brave and think positive. Ya know?"_

_Lucas taught Red to be more open with others. Red had slightly improved and started talking but he was still quite the loner type. Possibly more lonelier than Lucario. But Red was trying hard. He also taught Red to not mind what others thought of his fighting technique. At first, everyone except Lucas and the other Pokemon thought Red couldn't fight and often stared at him as if he was a freak._

_But after the events of Subspace Emmisary and Master Hand fully recovered, he explained to the other Smashers that it was the way of fighting in the Pokemon World and that regardless of how everyone fights, they should respect each other. Everyone saw the truth of things and apologised to Red. Snake had gulped down his pride and apologised to Red as he knew the pokemon trainer had heard what he had said about him in his codec._

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**Me: You hear that Snakey?! DIIIIIEEEEEE!!!!! *fires lazer at him* Really sorry about this, Snake fans… But I needed to hit him at least once…**

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_Anyway, one peaceful day at Kanto (Sun was shining, Pidgey were singing blah blah blah…) Red had woken up, washed up and dressed in usual attire. He fed his Pokemon and himself before heading out to get the mail. There was a letter for him at first to his dismay because he thought it was Lorelei telling him to get his butt down to the Pokemon League where the challengers had been impatiently waiting for the arrival of the Champion. However, it was from Master Hand and he almost hit his head on the mailbox upon seeing the address AND the objective of the letter._

_He ran excitedly into the house and tore open the letter. His eyes were shining with pure innocent excitement as he read the letter. He didn't even notice his mother coming down with a confused face._

_Dear Red the Pokemon Trainer,_

_On behalf of the universe, I thank you and the 35 (?) other smashers who have bravely fought against Tabuu and ended the Subspace Emissary. I therefore have a request and hopefully a reward for all of you._

_I have built a Smash Mansion specially designed and built for all of you Smashers. If you agree to make a Brawl Tournament with me, you will be able to move into the Smash Mansion which has the highest technology and accommodation that will match to your liking._

_This Brawl Tournament will be forecasted world-wide and many spectators will be watching and cheering as you brawl._

_(The rest you don't need to know. Just stuff about the Tournament and the Mansion.)_

_I hope you will accept to my offer. If you agree just resend the letter back by the Delibird that will crash into your house through the window in 1.27648673 seconds after you finished reading this sentence._

_"CRASH!!!" Red looked up and saw a Delibird which had crashed through the window and hopped up onto the kitchen counter unharmed. Red found out that this Delibird had a badge that will give him no injury no matter what he crashes into._

_"Holy cats! What's a Delibird doing here, crashing through the window like that?!?!" Red's mother shrieked._

_"Mom, look!" Red said as he handed the letter to her._

_Her eyes widened as she read it. She looked at Red and gave him a bear hug as if saying through the hug that she had given him consent to attend. Red grinned gratefully and excitedly at her as he handed the letter to the Delibird to deliver to Master Hand._

_End of Flashback_

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Red smiled as he looked around him. Yep, everyone had agreed to Master Hand's offer and had come to the Smash Mansion to move in. His eyes landed on his best friend in the Mansion, Lucas, who seemed to be fidgeting for some reason. He also seemed to be staring at something; Red followed his gaze to the younger Smashers playing baseball and to the boy with the red hat and purple-and-yellow striped T-shirt.

_'Of course,'_ he thought as he looked at Lucas. _'Lucas wanted to play with the other kid Smashers and know more about that boy… I think his name was Ness. Yes, that's it, Ness. That's understandable; the both of them are from the same world but never met each other. I wonder…'_ Red looked down at the blond boy who kept on looking at the baseball field.

Lucas DID want to play with the others but stayed at Red's side as he thought it was selfish of him to think that way. But he could not ignore his desire to go play with the other kid Smashers. His gaze was so transfixed on the group of Smashers playing that he didn't notice Red coming down to him so that they could look face-to-face.

"Lucas… Go. Go play with them," Red said in his caring yet monotonous tone. "I know you want to."

Lucas squeaked as he realized he had been found out. But he stood his ground, trying to convince Red otherwise.

"W-what makes you t-think that?" Lucas stammered as he looked down at his shoes.

"Lucas, you've been staring at possibly the past hour. How would I not know? Come on Lucas, don't stay here because of me when you could be playing with them… I know you want to know more about Ness as he came from the same world as you. You want to be friends with the other Smashers and I'm not going to be in the way," Red said firmly. "All you have to do is ask Lucas... I would've agreed..."

"But… You, I-"

"Don't worry Lucas. I'll be fine. Thank you for caring. Now it's time for you to have fun… Go."

Lucas looked at Red and looked at the Smashers playing as though he seemed torn between making new friends and sticking with his close one. He pondered for a while and hugged Red suddenly, startling him

"Thank you Red! Thank you so much!" Lucas let go and happily dashed to the playing field.

Red chuckled as he saw Lucas skid to a halt as he noticed all the kid Smashers staring at him. He turned to look at Red who gave him the thumbs-up. Lucas then spoke to the duo wearing parkas who were the Ice Climbers and then to Ness. Red could not hear their conversation but knew the results as the young Smashers welcomed him with a smile and high-fived Lucas. Lucas, filled with happiness joined them in their games.

Clearing his mind, he remembered the names and faces of the Smashers and Meleeians. Other than Lucas and Ness, Toon Link, Young Link, Pichu, Nana and Popo, Diddy Kong were also playing. Mewtwo and Lucario decided to keep a watch on the kids. Red technically, was also a kid, he was only 10 going to 11 soon in a couple of weeks but he never thought of playing games with others besides his Pokemon.

Red was not a very open person but he made friends with all the Pokemon from the sweet Pichu and Pikachu to the calm and relaxed Lucario and Mewtwo. Sometimes, he had wished for friends who were other than Pokemon, thank Arceus Blue, Green and Lucas were there for him. He might have lost his sanity if he isolated himself completely from society.

**Lucas**

Lucas was having so much fun for the first time in many years. They had started off with introductions then the games began. They played baseball again, then hide-and-seek and tag. He got to know more about the other kid Smashers and had asked Toon Link and Young Link about his resemblance to Link, who had groaned but answered without any anger due to the fact that everyone who had seen them asked him about their resemblance to Link.

Ness then realized something he should have noticed before.

"Hey Lucas? That boy who was with you before you came to play with us? He's Red right? Where'd he go?" Ness asked.

"Red? Oh he's right-" Lucas said but trailed off when he noticed… Red was already gone.

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Don't worry people. Red is not in much danger… Yet… The fic might get a little angsty and depressing so people, watch out. I might upload the second chapter on the same day or maybe not.

**I hope you enjoyed it! Please review. Thank you for reading!**

**TakariFan8816**


	2. Chapter 2

**This is where the danger starts… Thanks to Vulpixi Misa, TheDormantOne and Lily Badens for reviewing and favouriting! Thank You! Thank You So Much!**

**Ah wait! I'm actually cancelling the inspiration contest! It hasn't happened yet but I know flamers will 'sue' me for "copyright infringement" when I have already asked the authors if I could use their main ideas. So for now I will only use an idea that Lily Badens used for her 'Red And White Ward'. I recommend you all to read it! Thank you Lily Badens!**

**Anyway, in case I appear to have taken an idea from your fic please don't flame me! Other than Lily Badens' Red And White Ward' all other ideas are from my own plotline! Spare me!**

**Disclaimer: ... Already made my point clear...**

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Chapter 2: Blackmail And An Unlucky Day

Red was happy to see Lucas having fun. He kept watching the other Kid Smashers play. Until he felt a tap on his shoulder. It was Kirby.

"Crazy Hand says he want to see you; I don't know why though," Kirby informed as he then floated off due to his great sense of smell for food.

_'Crazy? What does he want?_' Red thought as he set off.

Red had met Crazy Hand and followed him down a whole lot of stairs until they reached a rather dark room. The only source of light was a dim light bulb hanging from the ceiling.

"Now Red we can have a deal. Either you become my punching bag the whole time you are here or at least until you live- 'he chuckled at this' or I am going to have to do this to-" He whispered as he shoved Red into a door that magically appeared out of nowhere.

What Red saw was the most frightening thing of his life. The only thing he can really tell you without puking is…

That blood was splattered to the floor.

When Red exited the room, Crazy had explained everything to him and that it would soon be dangerous for anyone to be around him. Because he might just make them his other punching bags as well.

"Especially that blond kid… Lucas was it?" Crazy 'lamented' as Red almost exploded from anger; Red gritted his teeth from sheer anger.

"Leave… Him out of this… Don't hurt him…" Red managed to mutter out as he clenched his fists.

"That means you'll have to endure the pain don't you?"

Red was sent thinking. He didn't want this but after seeing what Crazy could do if he disobeyed and the fact that if he disagreed, Lucas might be in danger. The poor boy already had a hard life and although Lucas was actually older than him, he seemed like a younger brother to Red. He couldn't refuse.

"… I… Accept…" Red gave in.

"Well… Let it begin…"

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It had been a few weeks after Red had accepted Crazy's offer and he had been beaten up tons of times. He had acquired many bruises and scars but by miracles, he managed to even stand up. Red tried his best to behave normally but every Smasher noticed Red getting weaker and weaker and even more pale.

Lucas had asked him a LOT if he was all right. He would even accompany Red to his room in fear of him collapsing on the way there. He made sure that Red ate his meals and that he was all right after brawls. Red was touched but once freaked out in front of everyone when he saw Crazy pointing at Lucas from a shadowy hidden place and giving him the 'look' that said,

_'Remember our deal, Red or the child and you-know-who-they-are are done for'._

**_A few days later…_**

Red actually stared at the calendar of his room for some time. He could not believe what he was seeing. The next event piled up for the Smashers was today.

Today there was going to be the Sports Festival. Tomorrow would be the Flower Festival. Ack!

Why there were even festivals he had no idea. Master Hand just felt that there had to be something other than Brawl matches to be going on in the Smash Mansion. So he came up with festivals of any kind. He got hold of information on festivals that the Smashers had in their world. Even Samus and Snake had a festival in their world and Master Hand explained that it would bring in the feel of home and achievement to the Smashers.

The Sports Festival was dedicated to the Mario and Sonic At The Olympic Games. Smashers would not only play Olympic Sports but also normal sports that people play such as baseball. Red sighed because he didn't like sports that much but would play if he had to. He could play basketball well actually, as he and Blue played basketball back at home before becoming trainers. But he daren't admit it in case he would be asked to play.

Red got downstairs for breakfast and he was actually the first one at the dining room other than Peach who set a few fruit bowls before going back into the kitchen. From there, Red put on his monotonous 'mask' and instantly became the loner type. Lucario walked past and looked at Red as if to reassure himself he was all right. Although Lucario looked intimidating, everyone warmed up to him as soon as they saw his 'slightly' sweet side. Red had developed a friendship with the dog-wolf like Pokemon and ever since the first day Red had been beaten up, Lucario took it upon himself along with Mewtwo to sense Red's aura if he had ever collapsed or was missing so that the other Brawlers could track him in time.

After exchanging a greeting with Lucario, Red heard Peach calling his name.

"Red! Could you help me set the table for everyone please? If you are all right of course," Peach asked scrutinising Red to make sure he looked fit for the job. "The plates and kitchen utensils are in that drawer."

_'Why does everyone think I'm going to die or something? But that IS possible considering the circumstances...'_ Red thought as he snapped out of his thoughts.

Red nodded and entered the kitchen. He thought it would be easy to locate the right "drawer" but the kitchen was huge! Hundreds of Alloys were running about making meals and bringing more ingredients for the huge breakfast for 36 Smashers. Other Chef Alloys were cooking meals under Peach's orders. Red was astounded as he noticed that there were tons of cupboards here. Which one was the right one?

"Peach, which drawer is '**_that_**' drawer?" Red queried in his monotone but loud eneough for Peach to hear over the din in the kitchen.

"It's _**that**_ drawer."

"Which one?"

"_**That**_ one."

"Which one?" Red was getting annoyed.

"_**Tha**__**t** _one!"

"Which one?!" Red tried his best to sound calm but was failing.

"_**That**_ one drawer!"

"You mean you don't know?"

"Of course not. The Alloys take care of that but now since it's the Sports Festival, they're making treats and goodies for the Festival Party and the Award Ceremony."

"Argh! Which one is it?" Red was seriously getting irritated.

"Third, fourth and fifth drawers to the right in cupboard 15," a new voice spoke. It was Sheik who turned back into Zelda.

Red searched for cupboard 15. When he did, he also found the right drawers and took out all of the necessary items to set up the table. Carrying this whole load at once, he exited the kitchen while avoiding all Alloys and mumbling a polite 'Thank You' to Zelda. Zelda then waited for the trainer to be immersed in his job before turning to Peach with a raised eybrow.

"You've been in the kitchen for even longer than I have. I'll say that you have already known all drawers and its contents by heart now. What are you trying to do?" Zelda asked.

"I was trying to see if Red had other emotions like anger and happiness. Around all of us, he seems to be like a live moving robot. It's depressing. Even R.O.B. a real robot, is more sociable than him! Lucas has been trying to get Red to open up for some time but I feel that all of us Smashers should pitch in to help! He's our friend too you know! Mario and Sonic are planning on finding out Red's birthday without him knowing as all of our birthdays except Red's are known and celebrated with the other Smashers!" Peach huffed. "I want to help Mario too! And it's not only because I love him okay?"

"I understand. However, doesn't Master Hand have Red's biodata? Couldn't Mario and Sonic just look from there?" Zelda said, agreeing with Peach after recounting on Red's behavior ever since Subspace Emissary.

"They already have. But it turns out that Red is a very secretive person. He didn't fill in many of the questions including the one about his birthday," Peach explained.

"I wonder why... Even though I hold the Triforce Of Wisdom, I don't see the problem of telling anyone his/her birthday," Zelda wondered.

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"All done! I now feel kinda sorry for the Alloys... Providing food and setting up the table for almost 40 people is tough and takes a toll on your remaining energy..." Red sighed as he set down the last plate. "Peach, I'm done..."

"Oh Red, what a sweetie! Thank You! I could have asked Mario but he's busy with the Sports Festival. I hope you don't mind," Peach gushed, also panicking since she feared that Red had heard her conversation with Zelda.

"Everything is in perfect order for breakfast and I would hate to ask you for another favour but could you ring the breakfast bell please?" Zelda asked as she and the Alloys put down food on the table.

Red picked up the bell switch and rung it as an answer. Almost immediately, all the Smashers piled in and sat down on their seats. Red saw Lucas talking animatedly to Ness earning an equally excited answer from the other PSi user. Red smiled but also felt downcast when he felt that Lucas would be better off without him. He could be happy with Ness and being around Red would bring the young boy great danger. Red noticed all the Kid Smashers dragging Lucas off to their reserved seats and trapping him between all of them in a way that Lucas was neither unable to see Red nor go away from them and head to the two seats where he and Red would usually sit beside each other. Lucas was soon engrossed in the conversation that the kid Smashers were having and their merry laughter brought smiles and genuine happiness to the older Smashers.

Red could only stare at them and let the fact that Lucas was having more fun with them than when he was with him sink in. He brought down the rim of his hat so as to cover his tear-welling eyes as he scanned the table for an empty seat. All the seats were filled except for a seat between Lucario and Pit so Red just headed there.

_'Maybe just maybe... It would be like as if he had never met...'_ Red thought.

"Pardon me, is anyone sitting there?" Red asked quietly as he motioned to the empty seat.

"Nope! Go ahead and sit Red!" Pit chirped before going back to his conversation with Link about sword-fighting and archery.

"I am fine with you sitting here Red. Meta Knight and Mewtwo are already seated with me," Lucario stated, motioning to Meta Knight and Mewtwo whio were sitting beside him.

Red settled down and making sure no one was looking, he wiped his eyes free of tears threatening to drop. He looked up at Master Hand who was making an announcement on the Sports Festival before retreating to his study. But he never paid total attention to what he was saying. He was already trapped in his own internal conflict of emotions. He couldn't help but admit that he was jealous of the other Smashers, who could enjoy themselves without knowing and experiencing what might have happened to them had Red declined Crazy's offer, who could just be free and not a bird trapped in a birdcage. And... He was jealous of Ness and the other Kid Smashers for being able to make Lucas more happy than he could ever make him.

Red had freed a bird once from one of Snake's cages that was actually meant for pests. He felt that although it is good for birds to be kept as pets, he felt that birds in nature should be free to spread their wings and fly. Because he knew their pain... Of not being free...

While Red was thinking all of this, DK had accidentally knocked into Kirby who was sucking in his food. Kirby wobbled and fell off his seat while the cream pie which he was about to suck in was blown off into Wolf's face, which sent everyone especially Fox and Falco, bursting into peals of laughter. Although Wolf knew better than to start a food fight, he desperately wanted to get revenge on Kirby for being humiliated. Knowing that, Kirby ran away while Wolf searched for an appropriate item to throw at Kirby. Wolf then grabbed a big bowl of mushroom soup and overwhelmed by his anger, lost control of himself. He then chased Kirby all over the mansion to get a good chance to throw the bowl at him.

Fox and Falco got hold of the situation and the fact that Wolf had lost control. Both stopped laughing and after explaining to the other Smashers, ran off to restrain Wolf. However, due to his 'unstable state', Wolf's speed at running increased tenfold causing him to outrun Fox and Falco many times. Kirby, sensing the danger that was approaching ran back to the dining room with Wolf on his tail. Fox and Falco followed behind and was just in time to see Wolf yelling a mighty yell before flinging the bowl of soup at Kirby. Kirby went,

"_POOOOOOOOOOOOOYOOOOOOOOOOOOO_!" (_NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO_!)

and looked frantically at where he was. He was currently perched on Red's chair and in his panic, noticed that Red could shield him from the soup. Initially, due to Red's monotonous and robotic-like speech, Kirby thought he was a robot covered with skin, so Kirby actually zoomed behind Red, thinking that Red would not get harmed. Snapping out of his thoughts, Red wondered why Kirby was hiding behind him until he turned around...

Only to be met with the bowl of soup.

"_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH_!" Red yelped in pain as the bowl collided with his head, causing him to fall off his chair.

Red's yell had caused all the other Smashers (minus Lucario and Pit, who were trying to help Red up) to stop laughing at Wolf chasing Kirby and gasp in shock. Wolf who had heard Red yelling and not Kirby snapped out of his mental state and stared in shock at what had happened to Red. Luckily Red wasn't scalded due to the soup already cooling down by Wolf's fast running. However, the bowl was a different story. Master Hand then burst into the room, having heard Red's yell and froze stock-still as he saw the poor boy drenched in cold soup and the bowl atop his head. After hearing the story from Fox and Falco and Kirby's reason as to why he had ducked behind Red as protection, Master Hand rushed over to the poor innocent bystander.

Lucas had burst into tears and was being restrained by the Ice Climbers as no one was allowed near Red as Master Hand had stated. DK looked immensely guilty and Diddy was trying to reassure him that it was not entirely his fault. Kirby looked stunned when Master Hand had told him that Red was really human not a robot while Wolf was prevented by Fox and Falco from bashing his head on the wall or committing suicide.

"I'm ow, fine..." Red muttered as he felt a pounding headache and Master Hand expertly flung the bowl from Red's head which zoomed through the kitchen doors and into the kitchen sink. "I just need to go change..."

"Holy shit! Cats and kittens! I'm sorry Red! I meant to hit Kirby not yo-" Wolf was apologising but was cut off by Kirby's and DK's.

"_Waaaaaaaaaaaaah_! Red I should have saved a seat for you! I'm sorry!" Lucas cried out with the Ice Climbers still restraining him.

Everyone was crowding around Red and Doctor Mario had rushed to the injured boy who was now standing up. He looked at Red and gasped when he saw a big and wide bruise on his forehead caused by the bowl flung by Wolf. Red was ushered by Master Hand to his room to change and after that, Doctor Mario applied a special cream on the bruise and Red had to resist the urge to yelp out in pain and run away from the room. Doctor Mario bandaged his forehead and told Red to take a nap.

"Can you tell Wolf, DK and Kirby that I er, forgive them? They were apologetic enough..." Red muttered as he was about go to sleep. Doctor Mario stared astounded and in shock at the boy.

_'He-a has a huge bruise-a on his forhead-a yet he still-a thinks about how-a others feel-a? Red is-a a good boy-a. A bit robotic-like-a at times, but-a a good, well-mannered-a boy... He doesn't-a seem to be-a very happy-a recently though-a; I wonder what-a happened,'_ Doctor Mario thought.

"Of course-a. I'll-a make sure to-a tell them-a that-a," Doctor Mario said as he examined Red one more time. "Mama Mia, you look-a really pale Red-a. Have a good-a sleep."

"Of course. Thank you Doctor Mario," was his reply before giving in to sleep.

Doctor Mario looked at the now-sleeping boy one more time and before going out, noticed a red ring on a certain date of the calendar that was hung on the wall. Looking closer at the date, Doctor Mario realised that the date had nothing to do with brawls, festivals or anything related to the Tournament. On it was a small but readable 'BOR'.

_'BOR? I wonder-a what that means-a,'_ Doctor Mario thought as he exited the door, leaving the boy to rest.

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**Ack! I feel so freakishly awful right now! Beating up my favourite character in Brawl! But it's needed in the story line… It's kinda too late to change the entire story now anyways… *goes to soundproof room to scream in terror before going to the dark corner***

**Anyway, poor Red. He's having an unlucky day and will it get worse? And what does BOR mean? First person to get it right will receive a cookie and a Red-with-his-Pokemon Brawl Trophy! Thank you for reading people!**

**TakariFan8816**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello everyone! I finally recovered from my writers' block and now I'm here at LATE night typing this idea out before it goes away. Ahaha…**

**Anyway, thanks to War P. Anda, TheDormantOne, goran77, Cyprin and Lily Badens for reviewing and favouriting! I was over the moon when I saw all the reviews and favourites/alerts. You guys made my day!**

**And, for the mini competition that was made in the last chapter. What does BOR stand for? There's one person who got it completely right and that is…**

**Ah-Wait for the end of the chapter, I bet you all are raring to see the main story huh?**

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**Chapter 3: Red's athletic talent is revealed!**

Red woke up panting and breathing heavily. He just had a nightmare and he was terrified. Dull yet bright eyes scanned the room for comfort and reassurance that it was all just a dream. The Pokemon which had recently awoken from their slumber due to sensing their master's pain, looked pitifully at him. All this chaos had to happen to their master of all people and he has to have nightmares.

Spotting the worried calls and looks he had been getting from his Pokemon, Red smiled reassuringly at his Pokemon once he had calmed down. Glancing at his clock, he found out that the clock hands read 12 p.m. He got two hours of napping time. Oh the joy.

That meant that the Sports Festival had already begun. Red looked out of the window to find all the Smashers up and about playing the various sports available. Master Hand even created an indoor ice rink so that everyone could try ice hockey and figure skating. Red's left hand reached up to ruffle his hair only to meet bandages among brown locks. Memories of the morning incident flashed through his head so suddenly, giving him a pounding headache.

_'Should I go?' _Red wondered as he looked out of the window.

He and his Pokemon could use some fresh air. So he put on his cap, slipped on his socks and shoes, buckled his Pokeballs to his belt and slung a smaller version of his backpack over his shoulder. Inside was a water bottle, an extra full Pokeblock case and a first aid kit in case you-know-what happened. He then exited the room and headed for outside.

**Outside**

"Wow, they even have a proper baseball field here!" Red muttered to himself as he spotted the younger Smashers including Ness and Lucas playing baseball.

Even Mewtwo, Meta Knight and Snake were playing something. Meta Knight could be seen with other Smashers playing ice hockey at the ice rink. How? The walls of the place were transparent. King Dedede was playing golf with Bowser, Peach and the girls were trying out tennis, R.O.B, Olimar and his Pikmin were playing badminton. Most of the guys had settled with dodge ball after a match of basketball.

Red looked around anxiously, wondering if he was the only one with nothing to do. Yes, he was alone. He would ask Lucas if he could play with him but he did not want to interrupt the other Young Smashers' game of baseball. Noting that the basketball court was empty, he got a basketball and headed to the court.

_'I wonder if I can still play…'_ Red thought as he gazed up at the basketball hoop, basketball in hand.

After a few minutes of gazing, he was finally preparing to shoot some hoops when-

"RED, LOOK OUT!" He heard Link's voice call out.

"IT'S TOO FAST! THE BALL'S GONNA HIT HIM!" Fox yelled out.

Red turned around to see one of the many dodge balls heading for him.

***everyone freezes***

To find out what happened, let's turn back time to a couple of minutes ago shall we?

***scene reverses to several minutes ago but now focuses on dodge ball court***

There was a dodgeball match of four people in each team. Marth, Roy, Ike and Link against Fox, Falco, Wolf and Lucario. So far, Fox's team was winning because they had played dodge ball before unlike Link's team which had just been taught how to play by Captain Falcon.

"Ha! I got Link!" Fox cheered as he, Falco and even Wolf high-fived each other.

"Ahaha! You have yet to see our special move of teamwork!" Roy said, as he retrieved a stray dodge ball from the ground. "Let's show them guys!"

Knowing what he meant, Marth and Ike picked them up and aimed them at the three of them, catching the trio off guard. Falco and Wolf got hit, leaving Fox to dodge the other balls aimed at him. Fox picked up a ball and was about to throw it when he saw three balls all heading for him. Instinctively, he bent backward and his body formed a bridge, thus allowing him to evade the balls that were coming from different directions.

Usually the balls would be stopped by a shield that surrounded the court but due to the sheer power of the three zooming balls the shield was broken. Two of the balls made dents in the ground. No one ELSE was harmed.

Unfortunately, that meant that the last ball was zooming towards Red at a very high speed.

***Scene zooms back to place***

Red was shocked and frozen in place, mind screaming at him to move. He dropped his basketball as he stared at the rapidly speeding ball in terror.

"Red!" Sonic zoomed away from his game of javelin throw with Mario when the duo noticed the ruckus at the lower fields.

Carrying Red, he managed to bring Red out of harm's way, narrowly missing the ball by a micrometer.

**(A/N: No it's not like THAT, good grief! Sonic is a good friend of Red's and since he could save Red from getting injured again, he did. End of story.)**

Bringing Red to one of the benches beside the dodge ball court, Sonic and the eight dodge ball players examined him for injuries. Red was not hurt but he was terrified. I mean, who wouldn't be terrified if their life was just a mere inch away from disappearing? Poor Red was trembling and shivering as if he was in the Ice Age or in Antartica. Yup, it was THAT bad.

"Red, we're so so sorry!" Roy cried out as the trio bowed low and started bashing their heads onto the ground.

"I-i-i-i-it's fine. I'm still alive anyway. Please don't hurt yourselves any further..." Red stuttered as he stopped the trio from getting a major concussion.

After finally calming down the trio and the others, Sonic finally noticed something. He turned his spiky head to look at the spot where he saved Red from the zooming dodgeball from. The basketball court. Looking around, he spotted the basketball that Red was about to shoot hopps with before the accident happened. Then something clicked into his head.

"Red you play basketball?" Sonic asked as everyone froze. As if under a trance, everyone turned their heads to look at the basketbal court.

Red gulped upon realizing this and he nodded, almost shyly with a pink tint on his cheeks as if embarrassed. Ike then stepped forward and held out a hand to him. Red stared at it questioningly, a question mark forming above his head as he tilted his head to the side cutely. A pair of cat ears and tail formed as well as a halo and angel wings. At that moment all the people who saw him thought of the exact same thing, practically gaping at his innocence.

_'Kaaaaaaaawaaaaaaaaiiiiiiii!' _(**A/N: Kawaii means 'cute' in Japanese.)**

...

...

...

"Wow Red you really play well!" Link praised as he patted the said boy on the back.

Said boy flushed the colour/color of his name as he was not used to hearing such praise from others. The group of boys had finished playing a few rounds of basketball and everyone was amazed at how well Red could play. I mean, he was the only one who could score goals all the way from the opposite end of the basketball court! Everyone in both teams had given him compliments heck, even Wolf came up to him! Red was suddenly feeling very pleased with himself, a feeling he only felt once when he was crowned Pokemon Master.

_'W-What is... This feeling? It... Feels nice, being praised...'_ Red thought as he held a hand over his heart, eyes widening in realization of his feelings.

And after playing a few more games and Master Hand's 'wonderful' speech, the Sports Festival was announced over...

Tomorrow would be the Flower Festival...

Oh the joy...

* * *

**I**'**m so sorry everyone for the short update and making you all wait so long! I can promise you that the other chapters will be longer!**

**AND don't get me wrong about the 'Kawaii' part, the guys are not gay, they just find it adorable that Red still has his child-like innocence because he has this stoic T.T expression all the time. But that's how I see it. If you want to think they're falling in love with Red, that's fine with me. There are bound to be some parts in the story that may be friendship to me but love to you. **

**Anyway who won the 'BOR' competition? Well BOR stands for...**

***Drum roll***

**BIRTH OF RED!**

**CONGRATULATIONS TO TheDormantOne for guessing correctly! You have won (well Yoshi ate the initial prize so...) Pokemon Trainer figurine and an empty Pokeball! Yaya!**  
**And to award War P. Anda and Lily Badens for participating, you guys have won an empty Pokeball! Yaya! **

**I'll be posting the chapter for the Flower Festival hopefully soon, so everyone please stay tuned!**

** t h a n k s**

**For the support everyone!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi hi hi! Firstly before I begin I would like to have everyone's permission to allow me to yell something out loud...**

***silence signalling approval***

**Okay here goes...**

**EXAMS ARE OVER FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR! YES!**

**Okay, now that I've screamed that out, exams have been the reason why I have not been updating (yes, I have been very mean to all of you unintentionally...) but I'm back! (I think I'll have to backtrack through the previous chapters of all my fics and see how many times I have wrote 'I'm Back!'...)**

**Anyway, I found out the hard way that I'm not good with gory and horror scenes. So now I can't seem to type out the scenes where Crazy Hand tortures Red not that I want to but still... So I might have to either**

**1. Just tell when the scene is happening by putting 'Censored' or**

**2. Just scrap the whole idea and write out the Smasher days of Red or...**

**3. Just rewrite the whole thing. (WHICH I CAN NEVER BRING MYSELF TO DO! so we'll scratch that...)**

**Anyway, for now I'm sticking with option 1. If you guys have an opinion as I'm sure you all do, feel free to convey your opinions in your reviews or PMs because I really could use opinions on this fanfic.**

**I give my thanks to... (in no particular order in case you're wondering)**

**LilyBadens**

**TheDormantOne**

**VulpixiMisa**

**Fairorie**

**And anyone else who recently favourited/alerted this fic...**

**And to all readers, member or not!**

**Disclaimer: Check the previous chapters. You'll find it. Except that now I don't own the things in the many game references of this fanfic.**

* * *

Chapter 4: Flower Festival

Red was... Well, he was sleeping and so was every Smasher until...

**THUNK!**

**...**

**Censored! Violence ensues... Waaah...**

**...**

_'Where am I?..._

_What is this place?_

_No! Not this room! Not again, not yet!_

_My previous wounds have not been completely healed yet..._

_Why? Why me? I curse my fate and I can do nothing to change it_

_!'_

_Someone please... Help me... _

_..._

_..._

"Red are you sure you're okay? You look very pale," Link had asked as he took a long look at the trainer.

Said trainer nodded meekly while trying not to limp as he walked. After Crazy's crazy session of crazy torture, the poor trainer blacked out due to loss of blood and found himself back in his room supported by healing magic. He still had to bandage many of his newly-acquired scars and had a limp in his step. He tried to blend into his surroundings at breakfast and stood at the very back when Master Hand unveiled the cherry blossom park.

Unfortunately, Link HAD to be at the back (he was late for the unveiling due to training too much after breakfast) with him. Seeing the trainer's condition, Link took it upon himself to look after Red during the cherry blossom viewing party. (It's called Hanami in Japanese.)

And that brings us to Red's current situation: Watching cherry blossoms with Link while sitting on a bench.

Everyone else had went off to the huge cherry blossom tree in the middle of the park and Red wanted to go there too but was too tired to do so. He snapped out of his trance when he remembered something he overheard a few days back.

* * *

**(Flashback)**

_3 days ago..._

_Link: Hey Marth Ike! Look at this!_

_Marth: What's this?_

_Ike: A pamphlet? 'Flower Festival features Sakura a.k.a cherry blossoms'... _

_Marth: That's one huge cherry blossom tree among all the other Sakura trees..._

_Link: Yeah, I'd like to see that one during the Flower Festival._

_Red: *passes by without a word*_

**(End Flashback)**

* * *

_'Link wanted to see the big Sakura tree... But he is here and not there with the others because of me... I'm such a burden to everyone...' _Red thought guiltily as he tried to see if he could stand up and walk with Link to the Sakura tree.

Link was thinking on the possible causes of Red's pale complexion and weak movements. In fact, it was even hard for Red to raise his arm! Link thought back to the conversation he had with Ike and Marth three days ago after Red passed by.

* * *

**(Flashback) (Another One!)**

_Red: *passes by without a word*_

_Link: ..._

_Marth: ..._

_Ike: ..._

_Everyone: ..._

_Ike: Is Red a creator of silence?_

_Link: No, speaking of Red, hasn't he been acting really wierd lately?_

_Marth: Now that you mention it, he seems more lifeless than usual. I'm worried._

_Ike: Who wouldn't be, especially after that whole soup bowl incident and dodge ball accident..._

_Link: I hope Red will be all right, a whole lot of bad events have been happening to him..._

_Ike: Do you think something bad will happen to him during the Flower Festival?_

_Marth: I hope not..._

_Link: If he doesn't look well yet still goes to the festival I'll look after him._

**(End of Flashback)**

* * *

"Hey Red, the cherry blossoms are pretty aren't they?" Link asked, trying to strike up a conversation with the seemingly mute boy.

The said boy jolted upright and nodded fiercely then winced from the pain accompanied with the fast nodding.

"Ow!"

"Whoa whoa! Take it easy! Are you all right?"

...

**(Behind the bushes a few metres away from Red and Link's bench)**

"Operation I failed. Activate Operation II."

"Roger that!"

"*sigh*"

**(back to the scene)**

"I'm okay Link. Honest," said Red rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Oh all right. If you say so," Link said while leaning back into the bench. "Oh?"

"Ice-cream! Ice-cream! Get your ice-cream here~!" sang an ice-cream woman who was pushing an ice-cream cart thing.

Link looked at Red who was once again lost in his thoughts then back at the ice-cream cart. Then he made up his mind.

"Red do you want some ice-cream?"

"Huh? Ice-cream?"

"Yes, ice-cream. Would you like one?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... Well?"

"... Okay..."

_'This boy is hard to talk to!'_ thought Link with the thunder background behind him.

"We better go to the ice-cream woman and see what ice-cream flavors she has. Let's go," he said, helping Red up and leading him to the ice cream cart.

"Yes, do you two want some ice-cream?" The ice-cream woman chirped as she brushed blond bangs out of her face. She wore a rather large cloak and coat for spring and sunglasses and a hat.

"Yes what flavors do you have?" Link asked while Red hung around at the back, shaking off the feeling that this woman seemed familiar and suspicious.

"Well we have...

*The next few minutes is spent with the ice-cream woman exclaiming every single possible ice-cream flavor in the universe*

"That about it... Hello?" The ice-cream woman finally finished ranting to a sleeping Smasher (Link) and another who was sitting down staring at her with a blank expression (Red).

"Oh! Um, that's a lot of flavors... Ahahaha... What flavor do you want Red?" asked Link, who woke up.

"Sea-salt..." was the reply.

"Okay then. 2 sea-" Link was cut off when a sea-salt ice-cream cone was almost shoved into his face.

"My my! Here you go! One sea-salt cone! How sweet! Bye bye~!" The ice-cream woman squealed before rushing off with the ice-cream cart at top speed that would rival Sonic's, leaving the two Smashers in the dust with an ice-cream cone.

"Hey wait! We wanted two cones! Aw, she's gone... Oh well, here you go Red," Link sighed as he handed Red the ice-cream cone.

"No no. It's yours... You ordered it after all..." Red waved his hands in front of his face.

"I ordered it for you. You might as well have it," Link said, trying to place the ice-cream in Red hands.

"No no... You should have it..." Was the stubborn reply.

"It's yours! Eat it yourself before I really force you to take a bite!"

"W-What?"

_"If the both of you can't stand the other not having ice-cream why don't you share it?" _

_"_Huh?" Both Smashers looked at each other then at the ice-cream currently in Red's hands which Link had forced Red to take a bite out of.

"... You've got to be kidding me..." Was the thought in both of the Smashers' heads.

"Ah well... It can't be helped. Have some ice-cream Link," Red said, handing the ice-cream over to him.

"... Fine..." Link muttered as he took the ice-cream from Red's hand and was about to lick it until...

"WAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIT!" A voice screamed out, almost making the duo jump three feet into the air.

A different ice-cream woman and cart came rushing up the corner yelling the word in caps above repeatedly until she stopped a foot before the two dumbfounded Smashers and ice-cream. She had yellow hair like the other ice-cream woman but was it was tied in a ponytail and wore sunglasses, jacket with jeans and a hat. She panted as she prepared another sea-salt ice-cream cone at top speed and almost threw it at Red's face.

"Since the two of you are so pitiful and the young one's such a dear, why don't you have another one? It's on the house!" The ice-cream woman yelled before entrusting it into Red's care and rushing off at top speed... Without the ice-cream cart. She backtracked, lifted up the cart and sped off once again leaving two Smashers in the dust with one holding two ice-cream cones.

Red handed Link the newly-acquired ice-cream cone and both headed back to their bench licking their ice-cream.

"It's good! Salty but sweet at the same time!" Link said, smiling at Red.

"Yeah, it really is..." Red said, smiling contentedly at the refreshing taste.

(Behind the bushes once again.)

"That was a complete and utter failure~! We were so close!"

"Why did you interfere Samus? It was getting to the good part!"

"Are you two sick-minded or something! The two of them were about to share an indirect kiss over a friggin' ice-cream cone! I HAD to interfere!"

"But but-"

"Don't 'But but' me! I don't mind small stuff but this operation is too much!"

"Okay fine! Operation IV begin!"

"Now you're talking!"

"It'll be risky..."

"But totally worth it! Sweet!"

"Wait a minute... You skipped Operation III..."

"..."

"..."

"Trust me Samus. If you didn't like Operation II, you wouldn't want to know what Operation III is..."

"... Why am I stuck with a bunch of sickos...?"

(Back to the scene)

Red and Link had finished their ice-cream and were now gazing up at the cherry blossoms. Red kept fidgeting in his seat as if he wanted to say something. Link didn't notice until he spotted Red squirming at the corner of his eye.

"Is something wrong Red? Do you need to go to the bathroom?" Link asked, causing Red to flush the color of his name.

"N-no! That's not it!" Red blurted out. "Um, well, erm... I want to see the huge Sakura tree that everyone's been talking about..."

"Are you sure?" Link asked. He was worried about Red's condition and the ice-cream incident didn't help one bit.

"Yes! It's fine! Please... take me there!" Red sent his puppy-eye look at Link at full blast.

* * *

Pokemon Trainer Special Attack: Puppy Eyes!

Target: Link!

BAM!

IT'S SUPER EFFECTIVE! ULTIMATE DEFENSE OF TARGET DOWN!

VICTORY! *Cue Final Fantasy Victory Theme*

* * *

"All right! All right! Quit looking at me like that already!" Link yelled waving his hands in front of his face.

"Like what?" Red asked innocently, tilting his head to the side making cat ears and tail pop out once again.

"... Never mind... Let's go," Link sighed, defeated upon realizing Red unintentionally 'assaulted' him with his puppy-eye look.

So here they are, Link constantly checking on Red to see if he is all right and Red would walk meekly while slightly limping. What they didn't know was that danger awaited them beneath the shadows...

All right I'm exaggerating. I know...

...

"Link did you hear something?" Red asked, pausing in mid-step.

"Hmm?" Link stopped and turned around to see Red looking around.

"I think something's coming..."

BZZZZZZT!

"Waaaaaah!" Red yelped.

"Who's there?" Link called out.

BZZZZZT! ZEEEEEEER!

A whole circle of ninja Metal Alloys leapt out from behind the bushes, circling Red and Link. Red instinctively reached for his PokeBalls but remembered that everyone (except Link because he was late) had to surrender their weapons to Master Hand for the park's sake. Master Hand had kept their weapons 'in a safe place' in order to 'keep the peace' in the park. Link noticed that Red did not have his Pokemon with him and became worried for his safety. Red could put up a mean fight if he had to but judging by his state, Red could not defend himself.

Especially when one of the Alloys reached out for Red by swiping at him. Luckily, Link knocked it out with the Master Sword.

"Metal Alloys? What are they doing here?" Link said, pulling Red behind him protectively as he got into a fighting stance.

"Be careful Link, those katanas look really sharp... " Red mumbled.

"Don't worry Red. I'll keep you safe," Link said determinedly, as he took out 3 Metal Alloys.

...

"Are you all right Red?" Link asked as he sheathed the Master Sword.

_'So cool...'_ Red thought, after seeing Link take out the entire army of Metal Alloys in record time.

"Y-yes, I'm fine. Are you all right Link?" Red replied, still getting over his amazement towards the Hero of Time.

"Yep. Anyway, more of those thigns could be around so we should head back. I can't risk you getting hurt," Link said about to turn around. "Oh crap..."

"What is it Link?"

"It's night time."

Link was right. The full moon had already rose and the whole park was dark save for the cherry blossom trees that glowed pale pink in the dark. Link was stumped and both Smashers sweatdropped. Where were they? Red checked his Poketch and noticed that the time was 7.30p.m. Follow the equations below.

7.30 + p.m. = Dinnertime

Dinnertime + Already Late + Trapped in Park = No dinner

No dinner + Red + Link = Hungry Smashers

You do the Math. If you want the proper answer scroll all the way down.

"This is not good for us at all..." Link muttered, trying to look for a way out.

"Link... You might want to look at this," Red said who was a few feet behind him.

"Huh?" Link turned around and his jaw dropped.

There was the heart of the cherry blossom park, the biggest Sakura tree of all. Due to its many cherry blossoms and huge size, it looked more like a very very very huge pink lamp from afar. Yes, it was glowing brightly as the full moon shone upon it. (A/N: I imagined it and now I wish I could see the Sakura tree with my own eyes and not just fake pictures...)

"Wow..." Both Smashers said in unison, both gaping at the huge beautiful tree before Red took out a camera he brought along and started snapping pictures.

"It's so beautiful! I bet everyone else never saw this for real!" Red exclaimed, Link (who was still gaping at the tree) nodding in agreement.

Red overcome by sheer childlike happiness at having seen such a pretty thing, leapt up and unconsciously hugged Link, completely forgetting about his own injuries from the constant torture. Link flushed bright red, snapping out of his shock and awkwardly returned the gesture.

(Behind the bushes)

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Two girls were squealing. "If only Samus could see this!"

(Back to the scene)

"Did you hear something?" Link asked , letting go of Red and placing a hand on the Master Sword, ready to draw it out if need be.

"Eh?" Red asked.

"Never mind. Anyway, it looks like we have found our way back to the mansion. Look over there Red," Link said pointing at a lit path.

In the end, Red and Link managed to find their way back to the Mansion without any disruptions and upon their arrival at the gates, they were met with a huge group of worried Smashers including Master Hand, who were all about to go on a massive search party. After explaining the entire assault by the Metal Alloys, everyone was about to head off for dinner until...

"Wait! Where are Zelda and Peach? They're not here!" One of the Smashers shouted. (A/N: It's up to you to decide who said that.)

And thus began the panicking.

Meanwhile, away from the growing chaos, Samus sighed and glared at a random empty bush.

_'I will never get tricked by those two again...'_

* * *

**Finally! The chapter's done! If you're wondering why I am writing hints/moments of RedXsomeone-most-likely-male is because while I was typing this out my so-called helpful friend had to pay me a visit... Plus, she is a 'boy's love/shounen-ai/yaoi/whatever you call it' fan. She told me to not only base this on angst but put in boyXboy pairings too. Or else...**

**Me: HOLY CRAP! DON'T BURN MY SKETCHBOOK! YOU CAN'T DO THAT! HOW'D YOU GET A LIGHTER ANYWAY?**

**Friend: *holding a lighter at my poor innocent favourite sketchbook* HAHAHAHAHA! Then you better do *repeat last line before this 'scene'* or I will really burn it!**

**Me: *currently freaking out* That's blackmail!**

**Friend: *turns on lighter and brings it closer to my sketchbook***

**Me: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! DON'T BURN IT!**

**Me: Fine fine! Just don't burn anything! *gets book back***

**...**

**And that's what happened. My friend, you are evil. Thanks to you, I have to write RedXguy hints in almost every chapter... -_-"**

***Friend sneezes at wherever she is now***

**Yeah, now you know, I draw anime/game stuff... I would put on a Deviantart account but I can't do Digital Art... I only have Paint on the computer I usually use and the one with Adobe Photoshop is malfunctioning. Besides, I have no idea how to use Adobe Photoshop and well, you get the picture. Sketches are usually overlooked unless you are a real popular fanart artist. So it does feel pointless if I do have an account on Deviantart.**

**Furthermore, most of my drawings are free-handed drawings of pictures of game characters. Like you give me a picture of a certain character and I can draw it out just by looking at it. I don't do tracing but if you see the reference picture and my drawing, you would've thought I traced it... And I don't want to deal with 'Ah! You copied/traced original pictures! Copyright Infringement' crap that many people would LOVE to point out without actually checking if the artist really copied or free-hand drew it. But I understand the reason they do so so I won't blame you for what you do if you are one of these people. **

**Maybe my Deviantart account could be used to post fanfiction instead... But I don't know how to post it up...**

**Putting my really long rant aside, the equations in this chapter show that dinnertime is at 7.30p.m. and if anyone is late, you don't get dinner. Since Red and Link are stuck in a mega-huge cherry blossom park at this time and lost their way, they will not be able to reach the Mansion in time for dinner. Luckily, everyone noticed they were a few heads short and decided to look for them instead of satisfying their hunger. **

**Moving on, I will change my pen name to 'CrystalCatalyst' soon so don't be surprised if you see this pen name that you don't recognize after Chpater 4 to 5. One more thing, I hope you spotted the three game references I made in this chapter. :)**

**TakariFan8816 soon-to-be CrystalCatalyst**


	5. Chapter 5

**Right now, I'm currently working on and finishing the next chapter of Opening Up so in the meantime, I decided to kill some of the suspense and give you guys a preview since you all really deserved it for tolerating my melodramatic antics and long ANs. If you want me to cut down on those, feel free to tell me okay? And please review, I can't help but feel like I'm story-telling to an invisible audience that won't respond.**

**And I changed my pen name so I hope you guys can still find me or to be more specific this fanfic.**

**Do I have to do the disclaimer?**

* * *

Preview

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT? WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

"SNAKE NOT SO LOUD! Red's right there!"

"RED HAS THE MIND OF A FOUR-YEAR OLD NOW? HOW? HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?" Snake practically screeched, as Red scampered behind Marth and clung onto his right pant leg, whimpering and eyes tearing up and all.

"Snake! Calm down, you're scaring the kid..." Marth hissed as he bent down to awkwardly ruffle Red's hair, who still had a death-like grip on his leg.

"HOW CAN I NOT CALM DOWN? LOOK WHAT happened to... Him..." Snake gawked as Red looked up at him with those adorable big teary pools you call teary eyes.

...

"Mama once said Papa had to leave for somewhere far away for work and will never come back... But I think she's lying."

"How so?" The angel asked, genuinely interested in what Red was saying.

"Mama cried after telling me and Mama kept saying 'He's never coming back' over and over to herself," came the blunt reply.

"...Oh, Red... Uh..." The angel realized what really happened to Red's father and looked at him with sad eyes.

* * *

**End of preview!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Everyone... Welcome to the fifth chapter of Opening Up!**

**And to all those who sent me messages and reviews conveying their condolences for the blackmail and the no. 2 that were mentioned in the last two chapters, thank you very much! I was really down in the dumps but your messages made me feel slightly better. At least now it's school break and I won't have to see those 'insert curse words' here' until the start of next year. **

**Wait...**

**Crap, I have to go back to school for something important regarding classes next year. I have to see them again... Crap...**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

***UPDATE* **

**Yes, Happy New Year to everyone! Sorry, things are going up then down again. After this, I'm happy to announce that this chapter's almost complete! To kill some suspense, I posted a preview of this chapter to keep everyone satisfied for a very short while since you all are practically yearning to see the real deal eh? Here we go! **

**Disclaimer: Check the previous chapters.**

* * *

Chapter 5: An embarrassing moment for ?

The day after the Flower Festival, the Smashers went on with their daily lives. Zelda and Peach were found without any chaos and peace had returned.

Pfft. Peace? As if. No one knew of the raging storm of fury, pain, sorrow and anguish all mixed into one in Red's heart. He just got tortured again and had a casts made out of bandages on his elbows to the middle of his fingers, a band aid on his cheek and a gauze on the other. Another bandage was wrapped around his forehead but was hidden by his bangs and hat.

Luckily for him, Crazy Hand had to leave the Mansion for a couple of days for an important meeting which meant that Red would be torture-free and be able to actually 'enjoy' life for these next few days. Upon Crazy Hand's departure, Red would have screamed and cried in joy had he not have been the silent boy he is.

Speaking of which, the young boy was reading a book in peace in his room until a knock on the door sounded. Red was suspicious at first but he remembered that Crazy Hand was not here. Opening the door, he found...

A GIANT GLOVED HAND! OMG!

Actually, it was a giant gloved hand but it was Master Hand, not his brother. Red mentally sighed in relief and politely bowed to him as a sign of greetings and respect.

Good morning Red. How have you been?"

_'Horrible'_, Red thought but answered,"... Morning... I'm fine..."

Master Hand grew worried of the boy. He noticed that the Pokemon Trainer had been becoming more weaker and more withdrawn from the other Smashers. Especially Lucas since from day one, the duo had been together through thick and thin. But now, they were both drifting apart. He had visited the boy in hopes of getting some information. Unfortunately, it was all in vain and Master Hand asked, no ORDERED and locked Red out of his room until bedtime, determined to let Red bond with the other Smashers.

Red sighed as he tried to pick the locked door lock for the umpteenth time. Finally giving up, he strolled over to the back garden of the mansion, fists in his pants pockets and Pokeballs strapped to his belt.

_'Might as well enjoy life as much as I can before Crazy gets back,_' Red thought.

...

Speaking of enjoying life, said Smasher was now enjoying a day at the very huge garden at the back of the Mansion. Everyone else was doing their own little thing. Speaking of their own little things, at Snake's room, he was talking to Otacon while sitting cross-legged on the floor, laptop on top of his lap. They were actually talking about the lastest gizmos that were of high technology and when Snake would be able to get his hands on such items... Through webcam and MSN.

But how their conversation suddenly sidetracked for the worse we will soon find out.

"Hey, Snake Colonel wanted me to send something to you. Said it was of utmost importance and had to be disposed of," Otacon said through his transceiver.

"If they wanted to get rid of something why not do it themselves? It's not some rotting carcass of some dead grunt we took down is it?"

"Er, no. It's a machine that was already broken. We can't get rid of it here, if it goes wrong the whole base might get horribly messed up," Otacon said, twiddling his thumbs nervously.

"Oh joy. As if I won't get into trouble if the whole Smash Mansion gets blown up while I get rid of this thing!" Snake snapped, thinking of all possible punishments that would befall him were he to fail.

"Don't worry it won't do something like that. Actuallyyesitcan," Otacon squeaked out the last part at light speed.

"Say what?" Snake raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

"NOTHING! Anyway, the machine will be delivered to you. If I'm not wrong it'll be arriving at the Mansion along with everyone's daily mail," Otacon explained, clearing his throat.

"Hmph. Fine, I'll go get rid of this stupid machine of yours," Snake tiredly shut off his webcam, logged off MSN, shut down his laptop, hid it in a secret compartment and proceeded to get out of his room.

...

Red opened the door to find the very ratty and old-timer postman singing the 'Postman Pat' theme song horribly. Any normal person would have screamed or fainted but Red being Red would just stare at him with dull blank eyes. Actually, that's the reason why Red was even answering the door in the first place.

"Someone get Dr. Mario! Yoshi, Game And Watch and Captain Falcon passed out!"

"!"

Shouts of panic and screams rang from inside the Mansion but Red being Red once again managed to be unaffected by all this chaos and just bowed slightly to acknowledge the postman's presence. Oh, the postman was still singing by the way.

"Can I help you?" Red asked quietly.

"Postman Pat, Postman Pat, Postman Pat and his black and w- Oh hello sonny! Didn't see you there. Was doing my very own jingle to lighten up the mood! I have your parcels and letters right here, let me go and get them out," The postman chirped as he went to his bright red postman truck and began searching in the back.

Sighs of relief and cheers erupted from the lobby of the Mansion behind Red. Yoshi, G&W and Captain Falcon magically regained consciousness upon the postman's lack of singing. One of the Smashers (revealed to be Bowser) stopped screaming and peace reigned... Temporarily...

The postman returned lugging a heavy and huge sack behind him. Red, being the kindhearted soul he was despite his monotony, helped the postman drag it into the Mansion. Upon the postman entering the Mansion, everyone including Master Hand rushed into the other rooms of the Mansion, fearing that the postman will sing again.

"Well then sonny, you a fine young man, helping postmen like me out. Get Master Hand to sign this and I'll be taking my leave-" The postman was cut off as Master Hand used his powers to lift the pen in midair and sign on the delivery receipt.

"Okay then I'll be leaving now. Good day sonny. As a gift for your kind acts, I'll sing you a song!" The postman chirped just as everyone came out of their hiding places.

"NO!"

...

Kirby was carrying a huge jug of grape juice across the main lobby as pandemonium wrecked the mansion. He was concentrating so hard on making sure that no juice had spilled that he was oblivious to the huge sack in front of him, as well as the postman preparing to sing.

"POSTMAN PAT! POSTMAN PAT! POSTMAN PAT AND HIS BLACK AND WHITE CAT!" The postman sung out loud as he skipped outside the Mansion towards his red delivery truck.

Kirby got startled, tripped and fell causing the very large jug of grape juice to fall and land onto the sack full of letters and the broken machine that was for Snake. This caused the machine to go out of whack and explode and since Red was the nearest to the sack, he was caught in the explosion too. Everyone in the room saw this, including Snake who sauntered in just in time to see Kirby falling.

_'Oh shit'_, was the only thought in everyone's heads as the whole room exploded into pink explosion clouds.

"Oh no Red's in there!" Ike shouted and would have dove into the explosion had Master Hand not stopped him.

"Don't be so reckless Ike. That thing could be dangerous," Master Hand cautioned.

'Damn you Otacon.' Snake cursed as he and many other Smashers watched helplessly as the smoke gradually cleared up.

The broken machine had fallen into ruin by the explosion and everyone's mail was burned to ashes. But no one cared, not even Toon Link who was going to receive his long-awaited letter from Toon Zelda/Tetra. What truly mattered now was the boy sitting in the center of the lobby. Red was lying on the ground, back facing up. All the Smashers including Master Hand gasped simultaneously and ran over to Red, completely forgetting about the destruction of the lobby.

"Red! Are you all right?"

Of course he's not all right! Look at all the destruction!"

"Wake up! Oi! Get up!"

"He better not be dead!"

"Everyone! Bring him to the infirmary RIGHT NOW!"

While all this was happening, Snake was mumbling curses towards Otacon and Colonel while fiddling with his transmitter which Otacon was smart enough to not pick up.

* * *

"Ungh..."

"Oh he's coming round!"

"Thank goodness!"

Red's eyes fluttered open as he took in his surroundings. Blinking, he sat up as Master Hand and the Smashers stared at him, astounded that Red had survived. Everyone crowded around him and asked if he was all right. Poor Red, he hadn't the faintest idea of his whereabouts nor the identity of all these people. One moment he was playing Pokemon White on his Nintendo DS, the next moment he blacked out and found himself here. Looking at himself, he almost screamed at the top of his lungs upon noticing the huge changes to his body.

Looking around the room frantically, he failed to find his Mama and panicked.

_'Uwaah! Where is Red-kun? Who are they? How do they Red-kun's name?'_ 'Red-kun' thought as his eyes started tearing up, startling everyone else in the room.

"MAMA! WHERE ARE YOU MAMA! RED-KUN'S SCARED! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Red cried out bolting out of bed and crawling underneath it, shaking uncontrollably.

Everyone was stunned. Did Red just cry out 'Mama'? What the heck is going on here? It took some time for everyone to recover from their shock, all the while Red was still crying and calling out for his Mama like no tomorrow. Almost instantly, everyone had the same thought in their heads.

_'The explosion...'_

_'Damn you Otacon...'_ Uh, that thought only applied to Snake.

Master Hand the first to recover, immediately took charge and started barking out orders like the leader he should be.

"Call Doctor Mario! Have him examine Red! Peach go coax Red out from underneath the bed! Everyone else that isn't useful get out of here!"

And thus the orders were given.

As well as the beginning of yet another time of crisis involving our lovely darling Red.

* * *

"How is he Doctor Mario?" Master Hand had asked the question that lingered in everyone's minds.

Apparently, Peach was able to bring Red out from underneath the bed and had 'promised Red-kun some ice-cream if Red-kun would be a good boy and let the good doctor have a look at him' to which Red had replied with a 'Red-kun will be good and get ice-cream!' Now Doctor Mario had examined the boy and had a good idea about Red's condition. Marth, Peach, Pit and Snake had remained in the infirmary with them and were listening in on the conversation.

"Well you see Master Hand, apparently Red was able to survive the blast from earlier because he had activated a self-defense mechanism in his brain causing his current mentality to switch with the memories of his 4 year-old self thus cancelling out the damage he would have otherwise received from the explosion. I don't know how he did it but he must have some extraordinary abilities as well as high mental strength in order to do something like this," Doctor Mario explained, as everyone in the infirmary (save for Red and Peach who were eating ice-cream) either gasped or had their jaws wide open.

Master Hand gaped at the young boy who was now licking at a mint ice-cream cone happily with his now-named 'Mama Peach'. How did a seemingly normal boy have such high mentality and amazing abilities? What a mysterious boy inde-

Before Master Hand could finish his own thought, a yell resonated in the room.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT? WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

"SNAKE NOT SO LOUD! Red's right there!"

"RED HAS THE MIND OF A FOUR-YEAR OLD NOW? HOW? HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?" Snake practically screeched, as Red dropped his ice-cream, scampered behind Marth and clung onto his right pant leg, whimpering and eyes tearing up and all.

"Snake! Calm down, you're scaring the kid..." Marth hissed as he bent down to awkwardly ruffle Red's hair, who still had a death-like grip on his leg.

"HOW CAN I NOT CALM DOWN? LOOK WHAT happened to... Him..." Snake gawked as Red looked up at him with those adorable big teary pools you call teary eyes. Big mistake for Snake.

"..." Unfortunately everyone looked down as well at Red, who was sniffling and holding back tears of fear and shock.

_'...T-Too cute. So adorable,'_ everyone thought simultaneously.

Snake snapped out of his trance and knelt down to Red's eye level, said boy attempting to hide behind Marth. Holding out a hand, he apologized extra nicely. He remained in that position for a few minutes with Red contemplating to befriend these strangers, Snake losing his patience as he waited for a response and everyone watching the little scene. Just as Snake was about to give up or get annoyed, Red loosened his grip on Marth and put his free hand onto Snake's outstretched one. Sharing a very awkward handshake, Red's hand darted back to Marth as soon as it was over. Master Hand napped out of his stupor and brought everyone to the matter at hand. No pun intended.

"Okay, so who is going to watch over him?" Master Hand queried and everyone froze in horror as they pictured the possible scenarios and the weight of responsibility.

Normal children required constant attention and were noisy. They get easily bored and needed something to hold their attention. However, Red was not a normal child, he was a preteen with the temporary mind of a four-year old, so his behavior could be bad or worse than what the Smashers would expect.

As everyone thought about the answer to the mentioned question, little Red took this opportunity to examine the strangers in the strange room of the strange house (he was certain it was a house) he had strangely landed in. Looking up, he saw Marth and noticed he was clinging onto his pant leg. Flushing, he let go and proceeded to sit on the floor with his knees pulled up to his chest before proceeding to examine the strangers again.

**(In Red's mind of opinions)(Please note that he is four years old so he won't know some words like 'tiara' etc.)**

* * *

Marth

'... I think it's a boy... Or is it a girl. That's a lot of blue he has.'

Further staring.

'... He's a boy. And still has a lot of blue.'

Notices the gold band on Marth's head.

'He has a crown! A very small crown but it's still a crown!'

Cue shiny eyes of adoration.

'Is he a prince? So Mama was right! Princes do exist, I wonder where his princess is? Has he killed a dragon yet? How cool! Where's the horse?'

Sees huge sword.

'It's that thing the hero uses to hit things! Wait...'

Cue eyes of fear.

'He won't hit Red-kun will he?'

First impression of Marth: A real scary blue prince. Can't wait to show him to Mommy.

* * *

Mama Peach

'Too much pink... Mama Peach is very nice but there's something dark about her...'

Cue realization.

'S-She'll dress me up in dresses like Mama does. And make me play 'Tea Time' and 'Doll house' with her! Danger Danger!

Impression Of Peach: 2nd Mama and a big threat.

* * *

Snake

Looks at his headband.

'Is he a ninja? He definitely reminds me of one of those ninja trainers I saw running about back home.'

'He has a lot of sharp looking things. S-Scary...'

First impression Of Snake: Big scary ninja.

Remembers handshake.

Edited impression of Snake: Big scary friendly ninja.

* * *

Master Hand.

'WA.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A..A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.H!'

Enough said.

* * *

Pit

'... Pretty wings...'

'Mama said that winged people are very nice people and won't hit others for evil. I should trust that.'

'So pretty and cool.'

Cue huge doe brown eyes of adoration and respect and very cute expression.

Permanent Impression Of Pit: Angel+Boy+Wise Words Of Mama=Pit=BEST FRIEND!

* * *

**(Back to Reality) **

Pit was jolted back into reality when he felt an innocent pair of eyes on him and turned around to see the ever-so-adorable Red gazing at him with such adoration and sincerity in his eyes that made Pit feel that he wanted to protect the boy. Then, he unconsciously said something that shocked everyone even himself.

"I'll take care of him."

* * *

**Okay, Okay, I know what you're all going to say.**

**"YOU SHORTENED THE CHAPTER!"**

**"CLIFFHANGER!"**

**"FTW!" **

**"ABOUT TIME YOU UPDATED!"**

**Something like that. So yes I admit it, I split the chapter into half. It was too much to take into just one tiny chapter, even if I did not update for so long. I'm so sorry for the inconveniences caused. Anyway, I had to redo the whole thing. Twice. Why? Because of this that's why! I'm freaking pissed at even if I love it to pieces for allowing me to post my work. If you can even call it work.**

* * *

**_What happened_**

**_Me:*In the middle of typing the chapter and surfing the internet* NO WAY! Rune Factory Oceans came out! And Rune Factory 3 English version too! OoO I must see the videos on this!_**

**_After ?hr?min?s_**

**_Me: T-T I want a Nintendo Wii and a DSLite... *sniff* No I can't behave this way! *shakes head and remembers unfinished chapter*_**

**_Me: Okay time to finish that chapter and upload it. _**

**_After clicking save button_**

**_Window: requires you to login._**

**_Me: This is-It can't be! ! NOOOOOOO! _**

**_I logged in again checked my chapter and found it entirely depleted. I was crying mentally. Had to retype 3000+ words again. And it happened again, only difference was that the game was Professor Layton Mask of Miracle for the new 3DS. The thought of it makes me want to punch the computer monitor._**

* * *

**Anyway, woes aside Thank you all for waiting so long. I'm so sorry to have kept everyone waiting and the inconveniences I caused but it's been a day since I finished my freaking horrible exams. 14 PAPERS PEOPLE! F.O.U.R.T.E.E.N! I'm happy that it's over but knowing that it won't be the only exam I'll be doing make me feel melancholic so the melancholy neutralized the happiness. **

**Putting all that aside, Thanks for reading reviewing favouriting alerting and stay tuned for the next chapter of Opening Up!**

**The Crystal Catalyst**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello everyone. It's me again and we're back to update this story of Opening Up! Whoo!**

**...**

**Yeah, I ran out of things to say, sooo... Let's do this!**

**Happy reading readers!**

* * *

**Chapter I-forgot-what-number-it-is : Babysitting**

_'What was I thinking? Why did I volunteer to take care of Red? Oh Palutena, help me!'_ Pit thought.

Said angel was now in his room along with little Red who was being so quiet that unless you were sitting directly beside him like said angel, you wouldn't have noticed him at all. Our lovable hero (Red-kun) was currently stunned into silence at the winged boy beside him. Inside his four-year old mind, he was deeply engrossed in solving puzzles he remembered and solved to pass the time and awkward silence he was having with aforementioned angel.

Our distressed angel was currently thinking of ways to get Red talking or at least look at him. Subconsciously, he got up from the bed he was sitting on with Red and went to look out of his window. At the garden of the Smash Mansion, he saw the young Smashers playing tag with Mewtwo supervising them carefully. Upon seeing Mewtwo, Pit remembered the Pokemon room reserved for the Pokemon in Brawl, excluding the Pokemon Smashers (They had their own room.).

* * *

(In Pit's mind planning board)

Plan #1-Bring Red to the Pokemon room. Or at least bring Red to meet Mewtwo, Lucario and Pikachu and Pichu at the garden.

Problem: Red's too shy and too quiet. Won't even respond when I waved a hand in front of his face.

* * *

Pit sighed. He had to try even if Red would scream at his advances. He knelt down in front of Red at eye level, took his hand and he said...

"Red, will you marry me?"

Red who was too stunned to speak, simply nodded.

... ^_^ They got married and lived Happily ever after~

... ^_^'''The end

...

...

... _''' Pfft...

... XD HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That is so wrong on so many levels! BAHAHAHA!

Okay, that was a really bad joke. Blame it on my yaoi/boy's-love loving friend who influenced and also blackmailed me. I apologize profusely but the temptation to put it in along with the emoticons was too great. Just too great... I know I'm going to get flamed for this I just know it...

Phew... Compose yourself and let's rewind to the kneeling part shall we?

... ... ... ...

**(REWIND)**

... ... ... ...

Pit took Red's hand and asked him "Red do you like Pokemon?"

Upon hearing the word Pokemon, all Red's doubts and fears about Pit were erased and he nodded quickly. His eyes and his form practically glowed at the thought of all the Pokemon he had seen in picture books and on television. Pit smiled upon seeing Red's enthusiastic reaction; Finally, some progress.

"Okay then. Let's look out of the window. There's something you should see." Pit lifted Red up into his arms, causing Red to squeal and whimper at the sudden change of altitude but he adjusted quickly. Pit then carried Red to the window and pointed at Mewtwo and Lucario who had recently joined him in meditating.

Red instantly recognized the two powerful Pokemon from all the days he spent watching Professor Oak's shows on Pokemon and he immediately planted his face against the window, not believing his eyes. He looked back at Pit, eyes begging to bring him to see the Pokemon.

Now don't call Pit ignorant of how humans let alone a four-year-old would react to flying without any safety gear; he has been surrounded by fellow angels and Smashers especially humans that could fly so he assumed Red would be fine. Now what did Pit do?

He opened the window of his room wide which was about five stories high from the ground, held Red tightly and soared into the air. Red gasped and clung onto Pit for dear life as they flew to the ground near where Mewtwo and Lucario were. Looking up the the clear blue sky and feeling the wind rush against his face, Red began to calm down and enjoy the short ride, smiling the first smile he made since he was entrusted to Pit's care.

...

Mewtwo and Lucario were sitting down and meditating before they felt a presence heading in their direction. Thinking it was one of the young Smashers who got injured, they looked up to find the group still playing tag. Looking further up, they spotted Pit flying towards them with a brown bundle in his arms. Question marks were raised as Pit landed in front of them. They took note that the brown bundle was actually little Red and connected the alarming dots immediately.

"Pit where did you fly from?" asked Lucario with a steady gaze, though more worried for Red whose back was facing him and Mewtwo and therefore unable to see Red's expression.

"My room. Why?" Questioned Pit, an eyebrow raised while folding his wings back.

"Great Scott, Pit. Did you just... Fly five stories down with a human child in your hands?" Mewtwo queried, Pit nodding as his reply.

"Pit do you realize that humans cannot fly and Red can be permanently traumatized from all that flying?" Lucario said as realization dawned on Pit and he gulped.

All three Smashers looked down expecting Red to be crying. However, what they say was completely unexpected. Red was laughing and smiling at maximum innocence and when he opened his doe-brown eyes, the blue sky could be seen in them, making him look more adorable. The trio just stood there, stunned and dumbstruck.

Only when Red stopped laughing and started staring at them, then the three Smashers snapped out of their reverie. Coughing, Pit remembered why he was here and introduced the two Pokemon to Red, who was busy making sure they were the real deal and not someone in a costume. Upon ensuring their identities, Red squirmed out of Pit's grip, dropped to the ground and ran up to the two Pokemon,wrapping his tiny arms around them in a hug.

Lucario and Mewtwo didn't know how to react so they simply ruffled the boy's hair awkwardly an took turns holding him on Pit's encouragement. This carried on for a while until Red was put down to the ground and Red rushed to Pit's side and pointed to the Mansion after waving goodbye to Lucario and Mewtwo. Pit brought him back to the Mansion and asked Red where he wanted to go next.

As if on cue, Red's stomach growled and said boy turned the colour of his name, huffing indignantly when Pit chuckled.

"Okay, I get it, let's go grab something to eat," Pit took Red's hand and led him to the kitchen.

...

"Red, I want you to wait out here okay? The kitchen can be... Scary sometimes, especially when Peach has her frying pan..." Pit instructed the boy, receiving a nod.

Going into the kitchen, Pit headed for the pastries and cakes, hearing from Peach that children like sweets.

Outside, Red was looking forward to his snack with Pit. He desperately hoped that Pit chose a white chocolate cake as white chocolate was his most favourite chocolate. He was busy imagining his cake that he didn't notice a drunk Wario heading his way.

It wasn't like Wario wanted to be drunk. In the kitchen, he was looking for his bottle of garlic juice but mistook a bottle of alcohol for it instead. So here he was, drunk out of his mind.

BUMP!

Wario bumped into Red, causing both of them to fall. Drunk, Wario was under the delusion that the thing he bumped into was one of his servants in his king-of-the-castle fantasy and he treated Red as such.

"Servant! How dare you bump into your king! You're slacking on the job aren't you!" He yelled at poor Red.

Poor Red-kun was dizzy from the impact and had just recovered so he didn't hear the first slurred sentences from Wario. However, what Wario said next struck him deep in the heart, awakening horrible memories of the past.

"You useless, good-for-nothing slave!"

_"Useless... Good-for-nothing... Boy..."_

"You can't do anything right! How can you protect the king well at this rate?"

_"I... Couldn't even save... Own twin..."_

"Say sorry for your actions!"

_"Father... Mother... I'm sorry!"_

"Tch. Be grateful that you're still alive."

_"Why did I live? Why couldn't I be the one who died?"_

"You don't even deserve to be here!"

_"I... Don't deserve... To live..."_

_"Leaf Green... My twin, my sister..."_

_"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."_

_"I... Killed you..."_

**THUMP!**

Wario passed out from the alcohol and Red, trapped in his broken memories ran away, completely forgetting about Pit and his hunger. He didn't even know where he was going just that he needed to run away before the darkness of his memories engulfed him.

_Run, run as fast as you can._

_Ready or not, death will come._

_Hehehehe..._

... This was not witnessed or heard by anyone, not even Peach and Pit where the din in the kitchen was loud enough to block out Wario's shouting and Red's screams...

* * *

**Yes yes... I hear it now...**

**"YOU SHORTENED THE CHAPTER AGAIN!"**

**And I have a good reason! I am currently pissed at the moment. Let me tell you what happened. I had three quarters of the whole chapter filled out already and guess what? I click the 'save' button, singing happy songs and what happens? **

**I was brought to the freaking log-in window! Logged in and the whole thing is GONE! ZERO! NAUGHT! WTH! **

**It wasn't even ten minutes since my last save, when I put in another quarter of the chapter, making it three-quarters! **

**Click the save button and your doc. is guaranteed to be completely depleted. Great idea Doc., keep them coming. Sarcasm.**

**After typing out this part of the chapter, I grew tired and just said, "You know what? Since I'm a cruel and furious authoress, I shall stop here! MUAHAHAHAHA!**

**And yes, I'm sorry readers I know this is very unfair to you. I know you don't deserve this crappy short chapter, you guys deserve a looooooooooong and well-written chapter for waiting so patiently for an update, and for putting up with my bad attitudes and reading this speech.**

**But how would you feel if you typed over 6000+ words over a span of ? days while juggling school life and personal issues, then try to save, feeling happy and accomplished for the first time in WEEKS and the whole thing just goes POOF! You'd be freaking pissed, that's how you'd feel. Especially after finding out you barely passed you tests. I am depressed now...**

**Once again, I am deeply sorry, I'll try to get to typing again but for now I want to rest my poor mind and recover from the shock of losing my precious chapter...**

**Please have a good day and don't end up in the same predicament as me.**

**Truly apologetic **

**TheCrystalCatalyst**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey everyone! It's me The Crystal Catalyst (used to be TakariFan8816). I've been down in the dumps like really down in the dumps but despite all that is going on in real life, I am still a proud (Okay not proud but honoured to be) Fanfiction author and I thought you guys deserved an update after so long.**

**Your reviews really helped me and I would like to thank all of you. If-No, I will finish this story at least-When I finish this, I will definitely have a chapter at the end expressing my thanks to all the people who reviewed, favourited and alerted this story even if by then you all are gone from or stopped reading this story. I am very grateful to all of you no matter who you are, member or non-member of FF.**

**For those of you who want to know why I've been gone for so long, a few really bad things happened to me and all the stress just broke me so much I lost the motivation to do anything or even carry on living altogether. My family members were not very happy when they saw me holding a knife in my hand.**

**So now, I'm undergoing counselling and whatever therapy stuff (I would say shit but that would be rude because they're trying to help me, TRY being the key word) they're throwing at me. The folks treating me want me to recover fast since it's the year of the ever-so important national exams after all.**

**So I better stop before all this turns so depressing, trust me, I do not even know what I am typing anymore.**

* * *

**Opening Up Chapter 7: Nightmare**

_The cold and harsh blizzard winds whipped at his face, the unforgiving terrain leaving him frozen in snow and ice. Freezing, the poor boy struggled to his feet and staggered as fast as he could towards another brown bundle in the snow. He shook her weakly and watched with his blurred vision as the bundle who turned out to be his twin forced her eyes open and stood up as well, supported by her brother, the boy._

_The two had absolutely no idea how they had gotten to where they were. Neither did they have any memory before hey ended up here except they were two halves of the same soul, just like twins. And that they should stick together._

_So with great struggle, the two staggered away from the snowy and mountainous terrain, planning to find shelter and a warm place together as well as seeking answers to their origin._

...

Pit had ambled out of the kitchen, holding up a box with a whole white chocolate cake. He knew that Red liked white chocolate especially after he had once seen Red stare at a bar of it so intently that he did not notice Pit's hand waving in front of his face. He checked to make sure the box was still there and looked up, expecting to find the little boy waiting for him with his face aglow. He froze.

Kirby had walked by and saw Pit looking frantically for something so he thought he needed help.

"Poyo poyoyo poyo?"_ 'Pit, are you looking for something?'_

Pit jumped before composing himself in front of the Dreamland warrior and said

"No, I got nothing."

It was not entirely a lie. He did find nothing but that was the problem. Someone he had been expecting to see was not there and now he was worried sick for the boy. He was only four years old now for goodness sake and he did not know the mansion layout well. He was bound to be lost and alone.

Pit feared for Red's safety. He should not be standing around looking like a lunatic, Red's safety was his first priority. He handed the box of chocolate cake to Kirby who was thoroughly overjoyed with the unexpected present and dashed off to find the red-capped boy.

_'Red, please be safe. Palutena, please protect him…'_

...

_The boy and girl had been travelling for days, only stopping to scavenge for food and accept presents and donations from very kind people who pitied them. They were now navigating across ancient ruins, evading wild Pokemon who may attack them. Why they were even traversing such dangerous grounds, even they have no explanation. The felt drawn to that place; it was as though they were destined to inevitably reach that place._

_What place may you ask? Why, it was…_

_The Hall Of Origin._

_These halls were sacred ruins and no normal human would have been able to enter. The duo of course, were unaware that they were trespassing holy grounds belonging to the creator of the Pokemon universe, Arceus._

_Arceus had foreseen their arrival and steeled itself for the role it had to play. As the creator of the Pokemon universe, he knew the true role and the hard truth of the Pokemon universe. He also knew what the two siblings really were. He wished he did not have to have a hand in this twisted game but he must do what he must do and he prayed for the two. For what happened next would haunt their lives forever even if they were to…_

_Completely forget about each other._

_Arceus pretended to be furious that there were two trespassers in his holy realm and went on a rampage. He summoned Dialga and Palkia to assist him by creating a wormhole leading to two separate worlds. He made it seem like he had killed the other sibling (For example, the boy would see his sister dead while the sister would see her brother dead) and the trauma would be too much for them to handle, causing them to fall unconscious. In actual fact, the death scenes witnessed by the two were mere illusions conjured up by Arceus who wielded a Psychic Plate._

_Arceus looked into the two wormholes leading to two separate parallel worlds. In one, it showed the Kanto region and Lavender Town (or whatever the starter town was) where a woman would be raising a boy as her child. In the other, it showed an identical Kanto and Lavender Town except that the woman would be raising a girl._

_Mournfully, Arceus lifted the two souls and sent them off to their respective Kantos after erasing their memory, the event only able to appear to them in recurring nightmares during their younger years. When they got older and are able to head off into the world on their own, the dream would be erased entirely and they would be left to their destiny of saving Kanto and being Kanto's champion._

_Arceus would have sighed heavily if he could. Instead, he watched the two souls grow into fine teenagers no longer haunted by the dreams that showed them their true memories. When the time came for him to look away, he uttered only one thing before foreseeing his capture by a Sinnoh trainer._

_"The game has begun."_

"!"

Red woke up with a start, cold sweat forming on his neck as he took in his surroundings.

_'That dream again. I've been having it for a long time. It has always been the same thing. And the girl, the character I was playing… His sister died. Again and again. Why? Why do I keep seeing this dream? I don't know her, I have never seen her before. So why? Why does this dream haunt me so?'_

That was his thoughts before he remembered what happened outside the kitchen. Whimpering, he curled up into a ball and cried, not caring who saw him or where he was. He just wanted this recurring nightmare to end.

…

"..d? …ed? Please… Please wake up… Open your eyes!" A worried voice called out to him.

Pit was not sure what to expect when he burst into Red's room. Since Red had been with him the whole time, the only places he had been to was the Infirmary, Pit's room, the garden and the outside of the kitchen. Little Red could not have known the location of his future-self's room

Yet here he is under the blankets of his bed, sleeping.

Pit also noticed tear tracks on his face and had frowned. What had happened to Red while he was away? He mentally kicked himself for being unable to protect the boy before proceeding to wake him up. He needed to know why Red was crying.

Brown-doe eyes fluttered open and Red once again processed his situation. Realization dawned on him as he remembered everything and realised he had left Pit back at the kitchen. He immediately leapt out of bed and bowed low to the ground, taking Pit by surprise.

"Whoa! R-Red, what wr-" Pit started but was cut off by Red's hoarse voice.

"I'm sorry!"

"… What?"

"I'm sorry for leaving you behind like that! I'll be a good boy and won't do it again!"

"O-oh? Huh?" Pit was taken aback.

During the time he was searching for Red, he never thought the boy had left him behind. He was too worried for Red's well-being. Unsure of what to do, he did whatever popped into his mind first.

He embraced Red.

"It's okay. I'm not mad. I was worried though. Why did you leave? Did something happen?" Pit asked, comforting the boy and making sure he was not bowing to him anymore.

Red stiffened, recalling the encounter with Wario and his nightmare. He nodded but did not say anything more other than meeting a scary, pudgy man with blue eyeliner and a moustache wearing a w-printed shirt. Pit would have laughed at Red's description were he not busy reminding himself to give a good beating to the garlic-obsessed man the next time they brawl.

Pit could tell Red was still hiding something from him but chose not to delve further in fear of scaring the boy off again. Something else had happened. Something big. But it did not matter for now. Red was safe in his arms. That was all that mattered to him now.

Red knew his partial-lie was seen through by Pit and was grateful that Pit did not ask any further on the topic. He did not want to recall everything again and proceeded to ask Pit on what happened to his food to change the subject.

Pit suddenly remembered why they were at the kitchen in the first place again and facepalmed.

* * *

...

Seated once again on the bed of Pit's room, bellies full with richly-cooked food, Pit and Red were now talking about Pokemon and about Red himself.

"So Red, tell me about your family."

"My mama is a very nice mama. She can do anything and she knows a lot of things. She taught me everything I know." Red's eyes glowed with happiness and pride as he described his mother whom he loved very much to the best of his ability.

"I see. Your mother sounds like a wonderful person. What about your dad?"

"Dad? Papa?" Red frowned. "I don't know."

"What do you mean?" A raised eyebrow and eyes showing plain curiosity and confusion.

"He's far away now."

"I'm sure he is. Kanto is quite far from here." Pit explained. 'Yeah, it's worlds away.' He mentally added.

"No, I mean yes but... I mean…" Red said, pausing to find the correct words, Pit waiting patiently.

"Mama once said Papa had to leave for somewhere far away for work and will never come back... But I think she's lying."

"How so?" The angel asked, genuinely interested in what Red was saying.

"Mama cried after telling me and Mama kept saying 'He's never coming back' over and over to herself," came the blunt reply.

"...Oh, Red... Uh..." The angel realized what really happened to Red's father and looked at him with sad eyes.

"…"

The room was enveloped in tense and awkward silence, Pit unsure on what to do or say and Red contemplating his own words, wondering if it was okay to simply tell the angel boy about his family so easily.

Pit looked at the clock and realised it was already so late in the night at least for a four-year old like Red. He told Red it was time for him to sleep and proceeded to tuck him in. When he himself did not join Red, Red was worried and asked Pit if he was going to leave him. After recovering from his shock at Red's question, he shook his head and put on the most reassuring smile he could, promising Red that he would be with him soon and sat by his window as Red dozed off to sleep, pondering on the events of the day.

…

* * *

**It's finally done! Oh, I thought I wasn't going to be able to finish it! Anyway, if the nightmare confused you I'll explain soon but I'm not sure how to put it here or on the following chapter so it won't spoil you.**

**If you have any questions, please feel free to leave it in the review section or PM me if you want to understand the full story behind the dream because I don't think I was able to explain it well here without practically spoiling everything.**

**If you notice any mistakes or errors, please feel free to correct me as well. I can't help but feel I typed my sentences too long or too short. Ugh…**

**I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I'm sorry for taking so long to update and now I can't help but feel I'll take longer to update not only because of real life but because I changed computers and now all my fanfiction chapters are wiped out including the one chapter for this story that I worked so freaking hard for. All. Gone. *sobs***

**I can't believe this was 2000 words. I thought I typed way more than that. *sigh* I hope it was not too short.**

**And thank you for reading and please have a good day.**

**The Crystal Catalyst**


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